Vicarious trauma

You can get psychological trauma not only by directly experiencing a threat to life and health but also when you only observe something terrible that is impossible to comprehend and goes beyond the scope of ordinary human experience. In psychology, this phenomenon has been called “vicarious trauma.”

The emotional load of observing catastrophes, accidents, injuries, and suffering of other people can be too heavy for the human psyche, even if the person themselves is not directly affected by these circumstances: they observe it from afar, or they see it on the TV screen and read in the news.

A young man who was going to work in the morning saw two stories of a residential building collapse – due to an explosion of utility gas. He was just passing by. This picture immobilized him: the screams, the bodies, the lost lives. A month has passed – but he cannot “unsee” what had happened – especially, for some reason, the image of a mangled doll stuck in the branches of a tree. He started seeing it in his nightmares.

A young woman was at an air show when a plane crashed. She was not hurt – she was quite far away. She only witnessed everything. She could not cope with unbearable feelings and panic attacks until she asked for psychological help.

A young mother saw a report about the Texas school shooting. Fear, the sympathy for the dead children and their parents, and despair overwhelmed her. She felt like a balloon that lost air – there was no strength left to go on living.

The witnesses may find themselves alone with their feelings, not being able to fully understand them (“I wasn’t there, I am here, I am okay, why am I reacting like that?”). And other people may not understand them either for the same reasons (“We are all worried, but still, this did not happen to you – calm down!”). The person may feel isolated, like in a vacuum – and this always aggravates the condition even more.

But we need to note that not every person who finds themselves in extreme circumstances or witnesses them gets psychological trauma. For example, there were quite a lot of people next to the young man who saw the collapse of the stories in the building and the woman from the air show – but not everyone took it so close to the heart. Also, many people were very disturbed by what happed in Texas, but not everyone who watched the news experienced PTSD.

Here are the main conditions that contribute to the trauma:

– acute fear for life and health

– experiencing a sense of helplessness (“I can’t do anything”).

The degree of distress and how much you relate to the story increases the likelihood that deeper layers of the psyche will be affected: “I also have children, this could happen to them”, “My brother died the same way”, similar traumatic events from the past, etc.

It is important to distinguish empathy from vicarious trauma.

Empathy:

○ the feeling of anger (“How dare they!”), fear (“What if this would happen to my family?”), relief (“What a blessing that this did not happen to me …”), helplessness (“I can’t do anything to prevent that”).

Vicarious trauma:

○ your emotional state has changed a lot: uncontrolled tears, frantic activity or, vice-versa, complete apathy, no strength to do anything, a constantly high level of anxiety (whereas before it was moderate or non-existent);

○ some strong fear appeared: of being in crowded places or vice versa, it is scary to be alone, fear of open or enclosed spaces, etc.;

○ problems with sleep or appetite that continue for more than two weeks;

○ your emotions seem to be blocked: it is difficult to react, it is difficult to feel engaged, it is difficult to sympathize, and it seems that you do not feel anything;

○ or on the contrary, you are overwhelmed by emotions – you are not able to act rationally, think about something else, or control your actions;

○ high intensity of emotions: it is impossible to do anything, there are terrible images before your eyes, and your priorities change all the time.

How to help yourself:

1. Most likely, you have too many unbearable feelings. They are very intense and remain locked inside. It is important to let them “out” and release them. When a person can name their feelings and express them – they stop causing damage from within. You can talk about your pain only with safe people who will not devalue your feelings, or vice versa, catastrophize (“We are doomed, what a nightmare, how to live on, we will all die!”)

2. Limit or avoid viewing and reading news. Your condition will only get worse if you do that.

3. Keep a diary in which you can safely describe your feelings and name your experiences. The goal is the same – to express what is piled up inside, not allowing you to breathe.

4. Take back a sense of control over your life: plan your daily life in detail.

5. Transform emotions through movement and breathing. We have written a lot about this lately.

If the signs of a stress disorder persist for a long time and it does not get better, you need to seek help from a specialist. Do not disregard your condition.

Take care of yourself.